This amazing Warhammer 40k T’au Empire army is created entirely from Lego. Redditor Sam McKnight posted photos of the jaw-dropping creation to the r/Tau40k and r/Warhammer40k subreddits on January 18.
The centrepiece of the army is a T’au Manta. These huge dropships are capable of operations both in the void of space and in the atmosphere. When T’au Empire Battlesuits make a deep strike landing during a game of Warhammer 40k, they’re jumping in from the back of a Manta. The Warhammer Plus series Exodite has some amazing animations showing T’au Mantas duelling with Imperial Warhammer 40k Titans.
Games Workshop’s specialist subsidiary Forge World makes a Warhammer 40k scale kit for the T’au Manta. It’s an absolute behemoth: according to Forge World’s sales page, the kit “measures 630mm / 25 inches long and has a wingspan of 860mm / 34 inches”, and weighs 12.5kg / 28lbs.
An official Forge World Manta will set you back a cool $1,875 / £1,210, making it the most expensive single kit that Games Workshop sells. It’s not quite the firm’s most expensive model across all the Warhammer 40k factions, as the Warlord class Warhammer 40k Titan model is split between several, enormously expensive kits.
Despite the huge cost of an official GW T’au Manta, there is some discussion in the Reddit comments about whether or not this Lego army project is any cheaper. The Manta appears to have a full complement of 48 seated T’au Fire Warriors made using the head from a Lego Star Wars Cad Bane minifig, a rare piece that can cost anywhere from two to five dollars – that means just the blue heads will have cost McKnight $100 to $240, math fans.
At the moment there isn’t an official Warhammer 40k / Lego crossover. Lego has a strong track record of creating licensed products from other nerd IPs, such as the Lego Star Wars, Lego Batman, and Lego Avengers videogames and construction kits.
There have been recent Warhammer 40k crossovers with other brands: occasional promotions have added Space Marine Predators and Land Raiders to World of Tanks, and last year saw the release of four hugely popular MTG Warhammer 40k crossover commander decks, plus an Orks themed MTG Secret Lair collection.